“Our science project is the coolest!” Brent boasted excitedly, half to himself and half to his small pet parrot, Squawk. He burst into his room, carrying a white Styrofoam carton. He had just returned from his friend Jeff’s house—and he had big news!
Squawk sat on the perch inside his cage and flapped his bright feathers.
Brent grinned. He loved the way Squawk seemed to listen to everything he said. “Do you want to see?” he asked the bird.
Squawk made a screeching noise that Brent took for a yes.
So Brent reached down and picked up the Styrofoam carton very carefully, so he wouldn’t slosh the liquid inside. Then he glanced up at Squawk.
“Check this out! Jeff and I call it our Transformation Tank. It all started this morning when we were hanging out in his basement. His mom has a whole lab down there because she’s a research scientist. We decided to pour some of her chemicals and stuff in this carton, just for fun. But then it made this strange blue liquid—look!”
Brent pulled the lid off the carton. He thought that Squawk looked very interested to see what was inside. Just as Brent had said, the carton was half-full of something that looked like bright-blue water. But, as Brent and Jeff had discovered, it wasn’t water at all!
Brent took a pencil from the cup on his desk and dangled it above the Transformation Tank. “Watch!” he told Squawk, his voice barely above a whisper. The Transformation Tank’s amazing capabilities still sent shivers down Brent’s spine.
With that, Brent dropped the pencil into the tank. Immediately, the blue liquid lit up as though lightning had flashed across its surface! Then the liquid fizzed and bubbled around the pencil. Less than ten seconds later, the inside of the Transformation Tank went completely calm.
But the pencil had been turned from an ordinary, yellow number-two school pencil into a much larger pencil crafted from the finest wood. It was shiny with polish, and it had a big pink flower carved at its very center. It looked like a treasure someone might pick up at marketplace in a foreign city!
“Is this awesome?” Brent asked Squawk. “The tank transforms things into the very best version of themselves. Think what a tank like this could do for the world! Jeff and I weren’t even planning to enter the science fair—but how can we not, with something like this?”
Grinning with delight, Brent took his old, battered basketball shoes from his closet and submerged them in the tank. Moments later, they were nothing less than expensive, professional basketball shoes!
Brent had a feeling that his and Jeff’s discovery could change the world!
Over the next few days, the two boys practiced their demonstration of the Transformation Tank.
“This is going to be such a hit!” said Jeff. “But we can’t let my mom know. She’ll freak if we finds out we used her chemicals.”
“Don’t worry,” said Brent. “That’s why we’re keeping the tank at my house!”
It was Wednesday, two days before the school science fair, and the boys were in Brent’s room, standing next to a growing pile of things they had already transformed. Brent’s cheap toy cars had become fancy die-cast models. His stale candy stash had become gourmet chocolate. His ancient baseball-card collection had been renewed into brand-new, pristine baseball cards—worth a whole lot of money!
Jeff had brought over a bunch of his things to transform, too. Even the boys’ socks had designer labels now!
“Maybe we should put our Halloween costumes in the tank,” suggested Brent. Halloween was the next day, and the boys were planning to trick-or-treat as characters from their favorite science-fiction movie.
Now, their costumes were cheap and run-of-the-mill—but after a quick dunk in the Transformation Tank, they were top-of-the-line and very realistic-looking!
“This is the best!” said Brent.
That evening, Brent fed Squawk before covering his cage for the night. Squawk hopped over and sat on Brent’s finger.
Brent grinned at the bird. “This is a very good week!” he said. “Halloween, and then the science fair!”
While Brent was busy daydreaming, Squawk fluttered over to the open Transformation Tank to take a dip.
“Squawk, no!” yelled Brent.
But it was too late. Ten seconds later, Squawk emerged from the liquid as an enormous, beautiful, tropical parrot.
At first, Brent was sad. He missed his little Squawk. But then he reminded himself that the bird was still the same on the inside. And, after all, he was very beautiful as a large parrot!
“I’ll get you a bigger cage tomorrow,” Brent said. He put big Squawk back in his too-small cage and shut the door. Then he crawled into bed and fell asleep.
Brent woke up when the church bells chimed midnight. He could hear their eerie tones echo through the town square. “It’s Halloween now,” he whispered to himself.
He turned over and tried to go to sleep. But for some reason, creepy chills tickled his spine. What was going on here?
Brent sat up and then he gasped. His room was filled with dark, moving shadows. When he clicked on his lamp, he gasped again.
Everything that he and Jeff had transformed was crowding around his bed, staring at him with piercing red eyes! But not only were the things alive, they were also uglier than ever. The pencil was now made of rotting wood, the basketball shoes were ripped to shreds, the toy cars were rusted, the candy was mildewed, and Brent’s Halloween costume was in tatters!
Worst of all, Squawk was perched on the post of Brent’s bed, giant and ugly and evil. He had wings like a bat and a twisted, monster-like face.
The best Brent could figure it out, the eerie midnight magic of Halloween had turned the chemically-transformed objects—and Squawk—into the very worst versions of themselves! And now they were coming to get him!
Brent pulled the covers over his head and screamed bloody murder. But deep in his heart, he already knew that this was the end. There would be no trick-or-treating, and no science fair. Not for Brent, anyway.
He closed his eyes and winced as the monstrous, hideous Squawk tore the covers away from him and began to chase him!
Trick or Treat